WWJD or Christians and the law

I had been reading Galatians through when the sermon came.  I hadn't read it through once or twice; I had read it through about 6 times and the context was fresh in my head.  The speaker intimated that we as parents were too stupid to raise our children without the help of Christian schools and youth groups.  He said that Galatians 4:2 showed it was biblical.  I knew he was wrong, but he was unabashed.  That sermon sealed my reasons for leaving the legalism I had been bound in.


Christ himself is the fulfillment of the law.  The purpose of the law was to show me how far short of God I fell and to prove that I needed help.  Christ was that help.  Now, according to Ephesians 1, I am in Christ.  He is my righteousness and I am no more dependent upon the law.


Good.  But what does that mean to me now in terms of the law?


A recent extreme time and further study of Galatians has been very helpful to me.  Before the hard time hit, there was a lesson I was supposed to get from Galatians, but I missed it.  I've got it now.  I'm sure that some of you that happen by and read this will say, "Duh!"  Please remember we are not all there yet.


First of all, I am no longer measured by the law.  Christ is my covering.  All of the burden has been removed from me and I hide safe in Christ's righteousness.


Yet all Scripture is profitable and inspired.  What do I learn now from the law?


I learn who God is.  I can see who HE is when my days and ways are dark and heaven seems quiet.  I read the law and find his holiness and righteousness and then I read Malachi 3:6 which tells me God doesn't change.  So, even if I can't hear Him or spiritually see Him, I know that the law teaches me who He is.  


There is also still the message of WWJD--What Would Jesus Do.  Do you need to know what He would do in any given situation? You can find it in the law.  


We all know those pet owners that we all hate.  They are the ones who animals are forever pregnant or running the neighborhoods or just general nuisances.  We have that family in our neighborhood.  I came home one day to find 3 of their puppies in the road.  By the time Tabitha and I rounded up the wayward pups and our other neighbor took to putting them back in their own fence, the male dog took off like a shot and was tormenting the neighborhood cats.  We saved the puppies, him we could not get.


Well, two days later, he was out running again.  This time he was behind our house tormenting our dogs.  I had to make a decision.  I had to decide whether to allow the dog to get out into the busy road and get hit by a car (which would be just desserts, you know?) or to get them over here to get their dog.  Getting them over here was a challenge.  It meant getting my frenzied dogs in the house (and Lugnut is extremely powerful.  If he wants to break from me, I can't stop him.)  It meant my dinner was overcooking, too.  I had a deadline.  


Then the Holy Spirit stepped in and gave me a bit of the law.  Deuteronomy 22:1-2   Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray , and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.  And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again 


Now, I tried to reason with Him by saying that the ox and sheep were for the welfare of the family and the dog was just a pet.  That didn't go over well and I had to put myself out and get the family over.  There! At least I tried (they couldn't get him either.)


It was a clear cut case of the law telling me what Jesus would do.  


The law is not to make me righteous so that God will accept me.  I am accepted in Christ.  The law is to tell me what Christ would do.  It helps me know God to know how I should behave in this world.  It turns out that it was a very easy conclusion to the matter.